Infrastructure and Access

Roads

Uasin Gishu has an extensive road network comprising of over 300 Kms of tarmac roads, 549 Kms of marrum and 377 Kms of earth roads. It also boasts 179 Kms of railway line with 8 railway stations. In addition, there is an inland container depot. The Moi International Airport and two airstrips are also located in Uasin Gishu easily making it the region‟s service hub.

Communications

The County enjoys about 95% mobile phone coverage which is provided by all the major service providers in Kenya. It also has 16 post offices, 4 sub-postal offices and nine licensed service couriers. It is connected to the fibre optic cable thus, giving it access to fast internet connectivity. The availability of these services 3 confirms the County‟s potential for fast economic development and an attractive location for investment.

Financial Sector

With regard to financial services the County has also witnessed significant growth. It has a branch of the Central Bank of Kenya, 21 Commercial banks, 108 urban and 4 rural Saccos; and 5 major micro financing institutions.

Education

The education facilities are fairly developed with 2 public universities namely, Moi University and University of Eldoret. It also has 2 private universities and constituent colleges of major universities. There is also a National Polytechnic, a Technical Training Institute and several private commercial colleges. In terms of basic education, there are 576 ECD centres, 422 primary schools and 129 secondary schools

Business

There are 102 trading centres with six of them being urban centres and towns. The six are Burnt Forest, Matunda, Turbo, Moiben, Kesses and Kapsaret. The urban centres have emerged and grown without proper physical planning. Undesirable developments including informal settlements have mushroomed with their growth. The infrastructural facilities including roads and water supply are insufficient to meet the demands of the growing populations.

Insitutions

Currently, 33 secondary schools and 12 health centers are not connected to electricity. Firewood remains the main source of cooking fuel accounting for 84% of the households. The over-dependence on firewood has negative implications on existing forests raising the need to plant trees in designated areas for wood fuel; and to connect more households to the National Grid. More effort is also required to connect electricity to all trading centers, schools and health facilities.